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Updated at 4:09 p.m.: Revised to include additional information.
The Brazos County Health District is investigating whether a Texas A&M University student has contracted the new strain of coronavirus originating from China.
The student, a male in his 20s, recently had traveled from Wuhan, China, where the virus was identified earlier this month. He is being isolated at home until testing is complete. Health officials have not said whether the student lives on or off campus.
The student had traveled within the last two weeks and went to an emergency room in Bryan College-Station with a cough and congestion, knowing that both were symptoms of the new coronavirus and that he was at risk because of his recent travel, said Dr. Eric Wilke of the Brazos County Health Authority. Health care workers at the emergency room then notified the county.
“All local hospitals, once this virus was made known, were already taking steps to detect this,” Wilke said. “They notified us immediately, and we were present very promptly.”
He said the student has mild symptoms of the virus and was already improving by the time he went to the emergency room. The student’s health continues to improve, and there’s “nothing that seems out of the ordinary or concerning at this point.”
Wilke declined to say which airport the student traveled through to return to the U.S., but he said he came back before increased health screenings began at several airports.
The student probably attended classes and had contact with other students before he went to the emergency room, Wilke said. Classes at Texas A&M resumed Jan. 13.
It’s not known why the student was traveling to China or whether other students traveled with him.
Wilke said local health officials expect to have test results for the patient by Monday that will confirm whether he has the new strain of coronavirus.
If the student is found to have the virus, health officials will trace the student’s path to monitor people he has been in contact with, Wilke said.
Texas A&M said in a news release that the immediate health risk at the campus is low. Nearly 70,000 students attend the College Station campus.
The Department of State Health Services pledged to announce any confirmed novel coronavirus cases promptly.
“Because it is cold and flu season and many people are suffering from respiratory illnesses, we expect there will be more travelers who fall under the CDC’s testing guidance,” the department said in a written statement.
The new strain of coronavirus has infected hundreds of people worldwide. The first U.S. case of the virus was confirmed Tuesday in Washington state by the CDC. Cases also have been reported in Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam and Hong Kong.
Seventeen people have died in the outbreak, all of them in and around Wuhan. Close to 600 have been infected, the vast majority of them in Wuhan.
Many countries have begun screening travelers from China for symptoms of the virus, which include fever, coughing and trouble breathing, and in more severe cases, can cause pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure and death, the World Health Organization and CDC said. In the United States, the screenings have been conducted at New York City’s Kennedy airport and the Los Angeles and San Francisco airports. The CDC announced Tuesday that it would add Chicago’s O’Hare airport and Atlanta’s airport. Officials said all passengers from Wuhan will be required to go to one of those airports to enter the U.S.
Most of the illnesses outside China involve people who were from Wuhan or had recently traveled there. U.S. officials have stressed that they think the virus’ overall risk to the American public remained low.
WHO has decided against declaring the outbreak a global health emergency for now. Such a declaration can bring more money and other resources to fight a threat but can also trigger economically damaging restrictions on trade and travel in the affected countries.
Health authorities identified the germ behind the outbreak this month as a new strain of coronavirus. Cornaviruses are a large family of viruses that can cause a range of respiratory illnesses in humans but are also found in animals like bats and camels. Some strains, like Middle East respiratory illness, or MERS, and severe acute respiratory illness, or SARS, can originate in animals and later infect people, according to the CDC.
The new strain may have originated from animals, as many of the first patients infected reported contact with animal and seafood markets, the CDC said.
In China, the illnesses from the newly identified coronavirus first appeared last month in Wuhan, an industrial and transportation hub in central China’s Hubei province.
Chinese state media say the illness in Wuhan is different from coronaviruses that have been identified before. Earlier laboratory tests ruled out SARS and MERS, as well as influenza, bird flu, adenovirus and other common lung-infecting germs.
The new virus so far does not appear to be as deadly as SARS and MERS, but viruses can sometimes mutate to become more dangerous.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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